CNN suspends Roland Martin over anti-gay tweets

Good for CNN. I’m not convinced they handled this entirely well up until now, now they have. And while I initially said to myself, “only three days?”, there’s something to be said for giving someone a warning shot before destroying their career. Not that the gay community hasn’t given Martin tons of warning shots. But CNN has not. Until now. So in all fairness, I can see why CNN wants to give the guy a chance to correct himself. But at the same time, give him an incentive to do better next time. (And while it’s “only” 3 days, it’s an embarrassing three days he’s never going to get back. He’s got a mark now on his permanent record, as it were. That means next time CNN won’t have a choice but to let him go, and if that happens, who’s going to hire him besides Fox?)

I know some will find this analysis wimpy, but I really do believe that it’s not always necessary to destroy people to get them to change for the better. It doesn’t always work. But we lose nothing by giving the guy a chance. Trust but verify, baby.

John AravosisFollow me on Twitter: @aravosis | @americablog | @americabloggay | Facebook | Instagram | Google+ | LinkedIn. John Aravosis is the Executive Editor of AMERICAblog, which he founded in 2004. He has a joint law degree (JD) and masters in Foreign Service from Georgetown; and has worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, and as a stringer for the Economist. He is a frequent TV pundit, having appeared on the O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline, AM Joy & Reliable Sources, among others. John lives in Washington, DC. John's article archive.